No wonder Josh Leivo described the Maple Leafs’ 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday as “bittersweet.”

On the same night the Leafs rookie scored his first NHL goal, the Innisfil native was sombre during his post-game interviews after he accidentally knocked James Reimer out of the game.

Just 32 seconds after the opening faceoff, Leivo was attempting to tie up a Carolina forward when Reimer came out of his net in an attempt to cover up a puck. Leivo tried to avoid Reimer but ended up clipping him in the head with his leg, sending the Leaf goaltender to the dressing room with what coach Randy Carlyle later described as “a headache.”

Carlyle said Reimer is expected back at practice on Friday, a sight which, if it plays out, certainly will be welcomed by Leivo.

“(Canes forward Nathan) Gerbe was ahead of me,” Leivo said. “I saw his stick so just tried to get it away from him. Reimer came out to cover and couldn’t get out of the way. I tried to jump over him, but I caught a piece of him on the way by.”

Leivo didn’t escape the incident unscathed either, although he was far better off than Reimer. After going airborne over his goalie, he landed on his chin, opening up a small gash in the process.

Asked how many stitches he needed to seal his wound, Leivo said he didn’t know.

If that was “the bad” of Leivo’s night, “the good” came at 6:47 of the second period when he snapped a missle past Cam Ward on the short side to give the Leafs a 2-0 lead.

“It’s a great feeling and everything although it’s a bit bittersweet the way things turned out,” Leivo said. “It was a good chip by (Dave) Bolland. We got by their d-men 2-on-1. The defenceman gave me room, so I decided to just shoot and try to put it in.

“It’s nice to get it over with but it would have been better had we won.”